Derry~Londonderry City of Culture final pitch
The team leading the Derry~Londonderry bid to be UK City of Culture 2013 made their final presentation earlier today. At 930 this morning in Liverpool, the team got 20 mins to lay out their stall and then were grilled for over an hour and half by the judging panel, led by Phil Redmond. According to the people in the room it was "robust" and concentrated on key themes of "community and leadership".
Among the bid team, the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness. In his speech to the judges he spoke about the last few days in Derry in the wake of the Saville Report. I spoke to him after and asked why he felt he had to raise this?
He said the impetus to talk about it had come from comments made to him from the moment he arrived in Liverpool, at both a public reception last night hosted by the Mayor of Liverpool for all 4 bidding cities and even before they started their presentation this morning. Many of them said they were really struck by the images they had seen on the tv on Tuesday. Declan Kelly the US Economic Envoy to Northern Ireland with the United States government was also in the room. He talked about how the scenes from the Guildhall Square were front page news in the New York Times.
But isn't there a worry I asked Martin McGuinness that this could go against the city? When you have the Prime Minister David Cameron apologising for Bloody Sunday, it could be said that Derry has had its moment in the sun and this global publicity could go against the bid. He didn't agree, saying one was the past, the bid was looking forward to a better future.
He's also a Derry man so he would say that! But the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is also a Sheffield man. Could this go in Sheffield's favour? According to Martin McGuinness, every time he has met David Cameron, the PM ends their meetings saying good luck for the bid. Mmmmm. Political machinations! I wonder does he say the same to Nick?
Comment number 1.
At 02:11 27th Jun 2010, kierantherock wrote:I feel it should take a lot more than just elequent bidding and political wand waving to convince those who decide whether Derry/Londonderry is really ready to hold the title "city of culture". The fact we cannot agree on it's name, deface each others "cultural" street art, have a devided often angry flash point situation is still a worry. Do not get me wrong, I think for the most part the folk in this city are very fine, and totally welcoming. They also make huge efforts to show the world their interesting cultural heritage. I think it will hinge on how the summer goes. I hope it is a peaceful one and maybe they can pull it off.
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